IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-01505639.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Economic benefits of methylmercury exposure control in Europe: Monetary value of neurotoxicity prevention

Author

Listed:
  • Martine Bellanger

    (EA MOS - EA Management des Organisations de Santé - EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP] - PRES Sorbonne Paris Cité, EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP])

  • Céline Pichery

    (EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP])

  • Dominique Aerts
  • Marika Berglund

    (LIU - Linköping University)

  • Argelia Castaño
  • Mája Čejchanová
  • Pierre Crettaz
  • Fred Davidson
  • Marta Esteban
  • Marc E Fischer

    (UNIBE - Universität Bern = University of Bern = Université de Berne)

  • Anca Elena Gurzau
  • Katarina Halzlova
  • Andromachi Katsonouri
  • Lisbeth E Knudsen

    (UCPH - University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet)

  • Marike Kolossa-Gehring
  • Gudrun Koppen
  • Danuta Ligocka
  • Ana Miklavčič
  • M Fátima Reis
  • Peter Rudnai

    (National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences - NIH - National Institutes of Health [Bethesda, MD, USA])

  • Janja Snoj Tratnik
  • Pál Weihe

    (Department of Occupational Medicines and Public Health - LS - The Faroese Hospital System (Landssjúkrahúsið))

  • Esben Budtz-Jørgensen
  • Philippe Grandjean

    (Department of Environmental Health - Harvard School of Public Health)

Abstract

Background: Due to global mercury pollution and the adverse health effects of prenatal exposure to methylmercury (MeHg), an assessment of the economic benefits of prevented developmental neurotoxicity is necessary for any cost-benefit analysis. Methods: Distributions of hair-Hg concentrations among women of reproductive age were obtained from the DEMOCOPHES project (1,875 subjects in 17 countries) and literature data (6,820 subjects from 8 countries). The exposures were assumed to comply with log-normal distributions. Neurotoxicity effects were estimated from a linear dose-response function with a slope of 0.465 Intelligence Quotient (IQ) point reduction per μg/g increase in the maternal hair-Hg concentration during pregnancy, assuming no deficits below a hair-Hg limit of 0.58 μg/g thought to be safe. A logarithmic IQ response was used in sensitivity analyses. The estimated IQ benefit cost was based on lifetime income, adjusted for purchasing power parity. Results: The hair-mercury concentrations were the highest in Southern Europe and lowest in Eastern Europe. The results suggest that, within the EU, more than 1.8 million children are born every year with MeHg exposures above the limit of 0.58 μg/g, and about 200,000 births exceed a higher limit of 2.5 μg/g proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO). The total annual benefits of exposure prevention within the EU were estimated at more than 600,000 IQ points per year, corresponding to a total economic benefit between €8,000 million and €9,000 million per year. About four-fold higher values were obtained when using the logarithmic response function, while adjustment for productivity resulted in slightly lower total benefits. These calculations do not include the less tangible advantages of protecting brain development against neurotoxicity or any other adverse effects. Conclusions: These estimates document that efforts to combat mercury pollution and to reduce MeHg exposures will have very substantial economic benefits in Europe, mainly in southern countries. Some data may not be entirely representative, some countries were not covered, and anticipated changes in mercury pollution all suggest a need for extended biomonitoring of human MeHg exposure.

Suggested Citation

  • Martine Bellanger & Céline Pichery & Dominique Aerts & Marika Berglund & Argelia Castaño & Mája Čejchanová & Pierre Crettaz & Fred Davidson & Marta Esteban & Marc E Fischer & Anca Elena Gurzau & Katar, 2013. "Economic benefits of methylmercury exposure control in Europe: Monetary value of neurotoxicity prevention," Post-Print hal-01505639, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01505639
    DOI: 10.1186/1476-069X-12-3
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-01505639
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-01505639/document
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1186/1476-069X-12-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jonas Schreyögg & Oliver Tiemann & Tom Stargardt & Reinhard Busse, 2008. "Cross‐country comparisons of costs: the use of episode‐specific transitive purchasing power parities with standardised cost categories," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(S1), pages 95-103, January.
    2. Shimshack, Jay P. & Ward, Michael B., 2010. "Mercury advisories and household health trade-offs," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 674-685, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Antonio Belmonte & Pilar Muñoz & Juan Santos-Echeandía & Diego Romero, 2021. "Tissue Distribution of Mercury and Its Relationship with Selenium in Atlantic Bluefin Tuna ( Thunnus thynnus L.)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Delia Evelina Bruno & Francesco De Simone, 2024. "ASGM Mercury Discharges in Tropical Basins: Assessment of the Criticality of Their Geographical Distribution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-15, April.
    3. Lauren Wyatt & Ernesto J. Ortiz & Beth Feingold & Axel Berky & Sarah Diringer & Ana Maria Morales & Elvis Rojas Jurado & Heileen Hsu-Kim & William Pan, 2017. "Spatial, Temporal, and Dietary Variables Associated with Elevated Mercury Exposure in Peruvian Riverine Communities Upstream and Downstream of Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-23, December.
    4. Rejane C. Marques & José V. E. Bernardi & José G. Dórea & Katiane G. Brandão & Lucélia Bueno & Renata S. Leão & Olaf Malm, 2013. "Fish Consumption during Pregnancy, Mercury Transfer, and Birth Weight along the Madeira River Basin in Amazonia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-14, May.
    5. Elizabeth Cullen & David S. Evans & Fred Davidson & Padraig Burke & Damien Burns & Andrew Flanagan & Chris Griffin & Anne Kellegher & Rory Mannion & Maurice Mulcahy & Michael Ryan & Pierre Biot & Ludw, 2014. "Mercury Exposure in Ireland: Results of the DEMOCOPHES Human Biomonitoring Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-16, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lin, Dajun & Lutter, Randall & Ruhm, Christopher J., 2018. "Cognitive performance and labour market outcomes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 121-135.
    2. Colmer, Jonathan & Lin, Dajun & Liu, Siying & Shimshack, Jay, 2021. "Why are pollution damages lower in developed countries? Insights from high-Income, high-particulate matter Hong Kong," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    3. Louie Rivers & Tamara Dempsey & Jade Mitchell & Carole Gibbs, 2015. "Environmental Regulation and Enforcement: Structures, Processes and the Use of Data for Fraud Detection," Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 17(04), pages 1-29, December.
    4. Chen, Victor L. & Delmas, Magali A. & Locke, Stephen L. & Singh, Amarjeet, 2017. "Information strategies for energy conservation: A field experiment in India," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 215-227.
    5. Alison L. Sexton Ward & Timothy K. M. Beatty, 2016. "Who Responds to Air Quality Alerts?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 65(2), pages 487-511, October.
    6. Rheinberger, Christoph M. & Hammitt, James K., 2011. "Risk-Risk Tradeoffs in Fish Consumption: Can You Have the Cake and Eat It Too?," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 114813, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    7. Anna Alberini, 2017. "Measuring the economic value of the effects of chemicals on ecological systems and human health," OECD Environment Working Papers 116, OECD Publishing.
    8. Chantal Toledo & Sofia Berto Villas-Boas, 2019. "Safe or Not? Consumer Responses to Recalls with Traceability," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(3), pages 519-541, September.
    9. David Epstein & Anne Mason & Andrea Manca, 2008. "The hospital costs of care for stroke in nine European countries," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(S1), pages 21-31, January.
    10. Martin Browning & Lars Gårn Hansen & Sinne Smed, 2019. "Heterogeneous Consumer Reactions to Health News," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 101(2), pages 579-599.
    11. José G. Dórea, 2010. "Research into Mercury Exposure and Health Education in Subsistence Fish-Eating Communities of the Amazon Basin: Potential Effects on Public Health Policy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 7(9), pages 1-11, September.
    12. Robinson, Lisa A. & Viscusi, W. Kip & Zeckhauser, Richard J., 2016. "Efficient Warnings, Not "Wolf or Rabbit" Warnings," Working Paper Series 16-033, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    13. Martine M. Bellanger & Zeynep Or, 2008. "What can we learn from a cross‐country comparison of the costs of child delivery?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(S1), pages 47-57, January.
    14. Mahlich Jörg & Sindern Jörn & Suppliet Moritz, 2015. "Vergleichbarkeit internationaler Arzneimittelpreise: Internationale Preisreferenzierung in Deutschland durch das AMNOG," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 16(2), pages 164-172, June.
    15. Eunji Lee & Chul Woo Yoo & Jahyun Goo & Kichan Nam & Chulmo Koo, 2024. "Is Contact Tracing for Pandemic Relief or Privacy Menace?: a Lens of Dual-Calculus Decision," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 1435-1451, August.
    16. Carrieri, Vincenzo & Principe, Francesco, 2022. "WHO and for how long? An empirical analysis of the consumers’ response to red meat warning," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    17. Tran, Cong Duc & Nguyen, Tin Trung, 2021. "Health vs. privacy? The risk-risk tradeoff in using COVID-19 contact-tracing apps," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    18. Hirotsugu Uchida & Cathy A. Roheim & Robert J. Johnston, 2017. "Balancing the Health Risks and Benefits of Seafood: How Does Available Guidance Affect Consumer Choices?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 99(4), pages 1056-1077.
    19. Rodrigo Aranda & Michael Darden & Donald Rose, 2021. "Measuring the impact of calorie labeling: The mechanisms behind changes in obesity," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(11), pages 2858-2878, November.
    20. Carrieri, V.; & Principe, F.;, 2018. "WHO and for how long? An empirical analysis of the consumers’ response to red meat warning," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 18/08, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01505639. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.